Paper stack gauge



July 23, 1957 l. BlvANs 2,799,939

PAPER STACK GAUGE Filed March 11, 195s INVENToR. [Pa 5 rfa/7s United States Patent @dice Patented July 23, 1957 PAPER STACK GAUGE 1ra Bivans, lfletuchen, N. Il.

Application March 11, 1955, Serial No. 493,895

1 Claim. (Cl. 33-143) The present invention relates to gauges generally and specilically to -a gauge which maybe set to a known thickness `or number of pieces of paper, pamphlets or the like and with the number known, a repeated number of the same article may be obtained from a stack.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensively constructed gauge for repeatedly obtaining ,a set number of sheet articles from a stack supply.

Another object yof the present invention is to provide a singularly useful yand economically manufactured hand tool which will measure out :a desired number of sheets from a stack supply when a sample number has been hand counted and the tool set for the sample thickness.

A further object of -the present invention is to provide a relatively light Weight tool of neat appearance and one in which the handle is :the adjusting screw, `so that no tools or `other articles yare needed in its use.

These Iand other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description when considered along with the annexed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is `a top View of the present invention,

Figure 2 is lan end view of the invention,

Figure 3 is ya side view partially in cross section on line 3-3 of Figure l, showing it in use to separate a quantity of paper articles in a stack,

Figure 4 is -an exploded view of the invention showing its three parts yand `one replacement part, and

Figure 5 is an end view similar to Figure 2, showing the use of the replacement part.

Referring in greater detail to fthe drawing, in which like numerals indicate like .parts throughout 4the several views, it will be seen that three pieces comprise the invention, the first lbeing a handle 19, preferably round and cylindrical, with a knurled surface 11 for better gripping. One -end of the handle l@ is reduced in diameter and threaded to form abolt 12.

The second part is a main frame 13 having a flat vertically disposed leg 13 and another iiat leg 13" projecting horizontally from the upper end of the leg 13'. The leg 13" has a slot 14 extending inwardly from its free end and :forms ya pair of spaced flat iingers 16. The leg 13' is provided with a closed slot 15.

The third part comprises an -L-.shaped gauge member 17 which is positioned so that its longer leg 18 abuts the vertical leg 13 of the frame 13 with its shorter leg 20 parallel to the horizontal leg 13 `of the lframe '13, the longer Aleg 18 `being .provided with la tapped hole 19. A knife edge iinger 21 projects from the shorter leg 29 of the gauge member 17 and is positioned between the pair of fingers 16 of -the main frame 13. This part of the invention has a replacement piece indicated generally in Figure 4 at 22 and in which the `outer face is rounded and the inner face is liat to `form a similar finger 23. The replacement piece 22 is to be used when ya larger number rof sheets is to be measured, las will be seen in Figure 5 when compared to that of Figure 2, `and of course a tapped hole 24 is provided to receive the Ibolt 12.

The use of the device is believed to 'be obvious. The knife edged linger 21 or 23 is inserted into a stack supply of sheets 25 with the long fingers 16 `on top of the stack and with the fiat outer face of the finger 21 or the flat inner face of the finger 23 parallel with the fingers 16. After 'a number of sheets has been counted, the handle 19 is untwisted enough to free the member 17 or its replacement piece 22 and the main frame 13 is moved one way or the other to adjust the relative positions of the lingers 16 with the ngers 21 or 23.

Each of the fingers 21 and 23 are rounded at their ends and honed to a knife edge, and the inner sides of the fingers 16 and flat faces of the iingers 21 and 23 ground or polished so that they are parallel and smoothly inserted into a ream lor other stack of paper as desired.

While only preferred embodiments have been here illustrated and described, other embodiments are ybelieved possible Within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spiri-t of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A paper stack gauge comprising `a main frame having a dat vertically `disposed leg .and another flat leg projecting horizontally from the upper end of said vertical leg, said lhorizontal leg having a slot extending inwardly from its free end and forming 'a pair `of spaced fingers, an L-shaped gauge member positioned so that its longer leg abuts said vertical leg with its shorter leg parallel to said horizontal leg, `a knife edge finger projecting from said shorter leg and positioned Ibetween said pair of lingers, and means releasably securing said longer leg to said vertical leg, said means embodying a handle having Von one end a `threaded bolt extending through said vertical -leg and threadedly engaging said longer leg, the knife edge linger being adapted to be slid between adjacent sheets in a stack of sheets with a known quantity of sheets when said pair of fingers vand said knife edge finger receive the sheets of said stack therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 196,976 Hill Nov. 13, 1877 1,167,252 Banes Jan. 4, 1916 1,442,959 McComish Jan. 23, 1923 FOREIGN PATENTS 67,876 Norway May 30, 1944 

